Daily Yellowstone journal., 1887-07-07
BABY AND HIS THUMB.

q Noteworthy Instance Of lnfantiie Res
olution-A Long Struggle.
From the time that he was six weeks
"a his thumb was hardly ever out Of his
mouth for an hour. II was only in that
way he could drop of to sleep. His in
slant response TO q caress, even when q
mere infant, was to nestle down with his
cheek against the beloved face and slip
his thumb into his mouth. Many times h
day he would seem to fall into a reverie in
that position. What single diversion or
passion in the complex of life of an adult
could be so Indispensable, SO hard to re-
hnquish, as this, the one pastime, the one
employment Of a baby's idle hourss
Scores OF friends have said: "You must
break It up. The longer you wait the
harder the fight viii be-" Only one
method was ever suggested TO us; to put
something SO disgusting or bitter upon the
thumb that IL would be uncomfortable to
him, and to persist in this treatment until
the association with the thumb was only
M OF aversion, not Of comfort. This was
actually tried Oh a little kinswoman of his
who bites her nails; but the soft hearted
grandsire applying the aloes could not re-
frain from assuring her il was ''nice''
and pretending 10 taste IL. So she accepts
II as q treat, ticks it OF and begs for more.
Now assafetida il called for.
The week after Max was two years old
his mother, to prepare him for what
seemed the inevitable treatment, talked
with him long and earnestly, showing him
the calloused, distorted Little thumb, so
helpless to resist his cruel treatment; tel
ling him that he was pushing his dear
little teeth also out of place, and assuring
him that it was making her very unhappy.
So completely were we under the influence
Of all the more experienced parents of our
acquaintance that we had no thought of
more than a momentary effect from these
words.
For the next day or two he was unac-
c~ountably irrits ole, and at night especially
be tossed and fretted for hours instead OF
hpsing of at once into peaceful SAUNDERS
a before. Once when his mother stepped
In to soothe him she was greeted with an
angry Mamma, 60 'wayl Dom want
mammal Want kick mammal Pres
emily we realized what a struggle was
being fought through. From that day he
never again in his waking hours put the
thumb inside the mouth, nor ever alluded
to II except to ask sympathy for the "poo'
little SO fmumI'' A week or SO later,
when he spent the day with some intimate
friends, they were astonished to see him
many times raise his hand with the ges-
ture which had become involuntary, be-
think himself in season, and with an ef-
fort lower 1t again. After q few days he
was rs affectionate and full Of delight in
life as ever, but for weeks he could fall
asleep only after q long, wearisome strug-
gle. Several times in this month IJanu-
airy, 1880 we have found that long after
falling asleep, say 10 or II in the evening,
his thumb had slipped in. This shows
how strong the habit had grown. And
yet when aroused in the effort TO draw il
out he repels with an indignant "No-o-o!"
round mouthed and wide eyed, the charge
Of ever once returning 10 the old habit.
Was not that a successful appeal to a
higher motive than disgust Win not the
success Of that first great effort help the
growth Of the queen Of all virtues, sophro-
syne-self controls-Babyhood.